[Acid Rain]

Hi there,

I've finally got my schematics etc and about the install my DiMarzios, BUT I wanted to coil tap all my pickups (especially my bridge humbucker). So I can't use one SPDT Mini switch for all three pickups (H/S/S - technically H/H/H) but I found this for One Mini toggle:

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/pickups/dimarzio.html

I understand the coil cut, but my SPDT is On/On. How can I set it up to be OFF/ON? Or does the website mean - On (humbucker)/On (coil Tap)

Thanks!
Regrads
Sim

 

[frankfalbo]

Yes, that's what it means. You could use either an On/On or On/Off depending on how you set it.

You can do all three pickups with a SPDT if you simply use the other side of your 5-way switch to route the coil junction wires to the SPDT. If that doesn't make sense to you, then just continue what you're doing and forget I said anything.

 

[riskordie]

can some1 post a schematic on coil tapping for a HSH guitar?
I dont really understand the diagrams from stewmac
and is it possible to do on a stock pup selector or do i need to get a superswitch?

Cheers

 

[Acid Rain]

It's possible to do it on a 5 way switch but i wouldn't be sure ~ frank might be able to tell you. But there are number of ways but If you don't want to use a mini toggle switch there's always using a Push Pull pot and wiring it that way. The Stewmac diagram shows you a SPDT from below so your seeing the connectors of the switch. You then connect the wires to the connection points. I'll try and find you a schematic, I think Seymour Duncan have loads inc. Coil taps

 

[Acid Rain]

one last thing - on - http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/pickups/dimarzio.html

With the coil cut, how do I know which coil to cut off. Does the image show the south coil getting cut off or the North coil?! Help?!

Thanks

 

[Acid Rain]

Frank: Just noticed, that when I wired my pickups with no humbucker mods the wires that are need to coil tap are connected to the tone pots etc. So does that mean I need to add extra wire from the 5 way switch to the coil tap?? Thanks!

 

[Acid Rain]

Acutally I understand the coil tap diagram now, but the thing is that Green is connected to one leg of the tone pot and red and some other wires are connected to the 5 way switch and black + white is connected to the DPDT unlike the one I found off DiMarzio.com?

Here's one I found off Jemsite: http://www.jemsite.com/tech/img/t_wd_7ct2.gif

Does this diagram acutally work for a H/H/H wiring with Coil tap?

 

[frankfalbo]

Green shouldn't be connected to any "leg" of the tone control, just ground. The jemsite diagram is fine, but only if you wanted to add a second switch. If you wanted to keep that switch, you'd have to route the neck and bridge coil taps through the unused half of the 5-way switch, so that those were sharing the same side of the DPDT. Positions 1 and 2 would feed the neck coil junction to the switch, and positions 4 and 5 would feed the bridge coil tap to it.

 

[Acid Rain]

Green shouldn't be connected to any "leg" of the tone control, just ground. The jemsite diagram is fine, but only if you wanted to add a second switch. If you wanted to keep that switch, you'd have to route the neck and bridge coil taps through the unused half of the 5-way switch, so that those were sharing the same side of the DPDT. Positions 1 and 2 would feed the neck coil junction to the switch, and positions 4 and 5 would feed the bridge coil tap to it.

Woah..you've lost me! What do you mean by if I want to keep that switch? I'll be installing the DPDT though? hmm.. I can't understab the part were you stated, where I need NECK and BRIDGE wires to go to the used part of the diagram?? If you look at this: (found off another website) - www.artificial-infection.co.uk/wiring.gif

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Hang on, the Jemsite diagram shows one half of the 5 way switch right? But the OTHER half of the 5 way switch isn't used at all. So wires from neck and bridge need to copied from the original half to the Unused half of the switch. Therfore the unused side of the switch is on the same side as the DPDT switch, therfore, it's easy to place wires on the DPDT? Is that right? How would I go about doing that on the above diagram (www.artificial-infection.co.uk/wiring.gif) though as both sides are used? Would it be possible for you to add/draw the DPDT in for me?

Or would it actually be simplier to use two DPDT switches, and use one hald of the DPDT for the BRIDGE, and then the other DPDT for the neck?? Wouldn't that be slightly easier as both halves of the 5 way switch are used???

Thanks frank!! please help! thanks!

 

[Dr. Funkenstein]

Not a help with the wiring, but using 2 DPDT switches gives you the option of keeping your humbuckers in different states without the hassle of switching all the time mid song, i.e. humbucking bridge with single coil mode neck.

Regards,

Dave

 

[frankfalbo]

The problem is that the "artificial-infection" diagram is for a totally different switch, and it is automatically coil tapping the pickups in the in between positions. There's not much reson to add a coil tap switch to that diagram, unless you wanted single coil options in the two outside positions. So, which switch do you have? Is it like the Jemsite diagram or the A-I diagram? What do you want the 5-way switch to do? simply switch pickups? Or do you want some automatic coil cutting to happen during the in-between positions?

It seems to me the easiest way to do this is with the Jemsite diagram AND that switch. You run the middle pickup coil junction right to one side of the DPDT, and the outside pickups' coil junction to the corresponding lug on the unused portion of the 5 way. Then you bring the "hot" of the previously unused side of the 5 way over to the other side of the DPDT. That way when you're bridge or neck pickup is on, the corresponding coil junction is also going to the coil cut switch.

You can also take a picture of everything you have, and your current wiring and then I can tell you exactly what to do.

 

[Acid Rain]

Hey frank, - The 5 way switch in that aritificial-infection diagram is what I believe to have.
My strat (S/S/S) is wired with 5 way -

1. Series Neck (sinlge)
2. Parallel Neck + Middle
3. Middle
4. Parallel Bridge + Middle
5. Middle

Right now I'm going to install my (H/S/S - technicall H/H/H) pickups and want to achieve the same setup (Positions 2 & 4 cut into parallel). So I searched and found that wiring diagram which technically, suits my needs. I didn't know the JEMSITE diagram had a different 5 way by the way! So the A-I diagram, 5 way is what I want. I would take pictures but I can't right now, as my guitar still needs to be used until a few days! so It won't be long.

All I want my DPDT is to coil tap the neck and bridge, and seeing I have another DPDT, I could potentially coil tap the middle but doubt it. I want the DPDT to just have simple coil switching modes - On (humbucker)/ On (coil Tap).

Any ideas? I can take pictures maybe tomorrow, as it's quite late now, but if you can help many thanks!

 

[Acid Rain]

Arghhh ****e... I tell a lie - I actually have this 5-way switch:

http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdfs/STDSTRAT/SD0134600DPg2.pdf

So I have no I idea which diagram!!! Please help!!

Here are some more Pictures: (I asked A-I if he could host these for me)

www.artificial-infection.co.uk/switch.JPG
www.artificial-infection.co.uk/switch2.JPG

www.artificial-infection.co.uk/body.JPG

Oh and do you know what these three little Holes are for?!? Never seen them on other strats, but thats new. They're not for my DPDT switches are they? If so, there aren't any holes for wires to go through and the two outside ones are slightly smale but the middle is big enough for the DPDT to go into! Any ideas

Thanks!

 

[Acid Rain]

Help..??

 

[frankfalbo]

I don't really have time to do a diagram or anything. The switch you have is standard, and comprised of two halves. Each half contains pins 1,2,3, and a constant hot. Just wire one half of the switch with each pickup going to the appropriate tab, and the other half of the switch will be unused. Then take the bridge and neck pickup coil junctions (b/w) and wire one to each side of the DPDT, you'll have a coil tap that works only on those two pickups. If you want to coil cut all three pickups, then use the other half of the 5-way. Wire the coil junctions of the bridge and neck ONLY to the corresponding pins on the other half of the switch, and wire the constant to one side of the DPDT. That way when the bridge or neck pickup is on, the coil cut wires will feed the DPDT. The other side of the DPDT is now free to accept the middle pickup's junction wires.

If this isn't making sense then I'd say you have to go to a tech, or start reading more about the inner workings of the components and why/how they do what they do. Good luck,

 

[Acid Rain]

Thanks for that, I totally understand it now! My brain is clicking and makes sense, and I ahve drawn my own diagram out and it should work now. I'll try and scan it in after. The only thing I have left to understand which is confusing me is when I wire the two pickups for one DPDT switch does that mean Neck (coil tap - ON)/ Bridge (coil tap -ON) - How will I get my humbucker series tone, or does the switch only work when on the neck and bridge?? Thanks for everything and most of it makes sense. thanks!

 

[Acid Rain]

Ok so here's my diagram - everything seems ok - I think I should have gone for a better combination of:

1. Bridge: [Series]
2. Bridge + Middle: [Series]
3. Middle [Series]
4. Neck + Middle [Series]
5. Neck

Although I'll stick with my original idea with having pos. 2 + 4 parallel with each other for that strat type sound.

Anyway, here's my diagram, I think it's ok, everything makes sense and I know how the coil tap works in this diagram. The only thing confusing me, as I stated above is using Bridge and Neck Coil tap on one DPDT switch. I think I might just stick and using 2 SPDT switches - I drew this during my lunch hour in Uni, haha.

(note - I have labelled the dimarzio colour code and on green and bare the (-) sign is cut off)

 

[Acid Rain]

All Done!

Oh well..I finally did it! Thanks for all your help frank -

I used two SPDT switches for coil taps for the neck and bridge pickups. I've been working on it all day, but for some reason I couldn't hear the coil taps working - But the coil tap is more noticable on Clean tones. And I did a slight re-wire within the SPDT and could hear the hum of the coil tap and I was delighted. But the coil tap tones are subtle?! Is it because it's originally a single coil, just hum cancelling so the tone isn't really going to change? Oh well at least it works.

The pickups are all DiMarzio: Neck ~ The Chopper, Middle ~ Fast Track 1 ~ Bridge ~ Tone Zone. I used the same 5 way standard switch, placed new DiMarzio Audio Taper (500K) pots, New Dome knobs for a tom anderson type look, a 0.22uF cap for Neck and Bridge Tone pots and a new re-wired strat - I should sign it at the headstock hehe. I think before I re string it, I'm going to add a 300K resistor in parallel with a 570pF cap for treble compensation. But with my Ibanez, it just uses a capacitor and when you roll the volume off it you still get some of the high frequencies ~ I wonder do I really need the Resistor??

I've also addded a graphtech nut to replace the shoddy plastic nut and i'm still awaiting my new Schaller M6-Locking tuners to placed in and the guitar is ready to fully go.

Here are some pics of how it's looking so far with the electronics mainly done. I haven't screwed the pickguard fully in yet but a little more work to do.

www.artificial-infection.co.uk/strato1.jpg

www.artificial-infection.co.uk/strato2.jpg

www.artificial-infection.co.uk/strato3.jpg

 

[MicJustMic]

I have nothing to add, but I'd like to point out that what you're actually doing is coil SPLITTING, not TAPPING.

Ibanez really dropped the ball when they started calling splitting, tapping.

I coil tap actually has an extra wire connected to the coil somewhere between the ends of the coil. For example, on a single coil you would have the north (or positive) connection, a south (or ground/opposite) connection and a third 'tapped' connection that can be used as an output that would in effect give you a shorter coil (thus, altered electrical response).

I can understand why there is confusion with this, I mean, Leo Fender called his vibratto bridge a tremollo . . . so why not call coil splitting coil tapping just to keep with the tradition of confusion in musical instruments.

Mic

 

[JESTER700]

You're right, Mic, but it isn't just Ibanez. This has become common usage; just one more example of the torture of our language... ;-)

Leo's tremolo amps were "vibro-this n' that" also...